Pokémon: Hopes and Dreams
by dontblowmyhorn
Summary: A young man leaves home to finally begin his own adventure as a Pokémon Trainer. Aided by his friends, he'll fight as hard as he needs to to finally realize all of his hopes and dreams, and he'll help others do the same thing. Warning: Contains Pokémon violence, references to substances, and explicit language
1. Escapes

**Escapes**

Sam's first day as a Pokémon trainer would begin tomorrow, whether his parents liked it or not. He was now 18 and no longer needed parental consent to begin his own adventure; actually, he didn't need parental consent for anything, anymore: he was a legal adult now. This simple number was Sam's ticket to freedom, and he was ready for a one-way trip. Ever since he could remember, he'd been pushed to live as his mother saw fit. He figured 18 years of dealing with her bullshit was quite enough trauma and mommy issues.

Sam's father was more than willing to help him start his own life; he didn't even really care that Sam was gay. Sam's dad was always of the mentality that a legal adult should be free to do as he saw fit, so getting him to help cover his escape was easy enough—his father would later lie and say that Sam must've left from school after he dropped him off. After gather his bare essentials, and his best friend, Pax, Sam was ready to set off.

"Alright, dad… I guess this is it…"

"Yep." There wasn't really much to say now.

"I guess I'm off to the post-office to send in my official application. After that I just have to head to Salem to pick up all my state-issued crap then I can head to Keizer to start the Gym circuit," Sam recited, trying desperately to show his father that he did, in fact, know what he was doing.

"I'm surprised you were able to plan this far ahead! Don't fuck it up!" They both chuckled for a bit, and a silence followed. It wasn't really awkward silence, it was more knowing—words didn't really need to be said right now. They both knew that this had to happen, and they both just wanted Sam's happiness to come out of this. The only real problem was that his mother would rather have him going door to door preaching about the Tao Trio.

No more faking.

"I'll leave her a note… I'm sorry you'll have to deal with her crazy ass…" His father laughed.

"It's nothing new! Don't worry about it." His face became more serious after a long pause. "Be careful, son. I love you."

"I love you too. Bye…"

With that, Sam and his little Solosis set off.

* * *

**AN: **This is a story I've decided to start to pass the time. I always thought life would be way cooler if it was a Pokémon adventure. I'm planning the story as I go and am hoping for it to be a success.

The story will allude to some real-life events (both world and personal) and will also allude to real-life people (any real names used with explicit consent)

I hope you have as much fun reading this as I am writing it. No one really knows where this is going, and I think that's exciting as hell.

-regards, Sam M.


	2. Friends

**Friends**

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

"I've just been feeling really alone lately, you know?" Sam was hoping he could get through his mother's thick skull this time around. "I need something in my life, mom. I'm not allowed to have school friends and I don't fit in with the kids at the church. I can't keep living like this."

"Well…I guess you can have a Pokémon…"

"Really mom? You mean it this time? One all to myself?" He stared back at Jazmyn, the family's Shiny Espeon that had taken a liking to his dad more than anyone, despite the fact that she was supposed to be for him.

"Yes! Oh it'll be so exciting! We can all get new Pokémon! What kind were you thinking?" She was much too chipper. She probably saw this as another way for them to all be a little more interesting and gather a little more attention from her peers. It didn't really matter, though, if it meant he got to have his own Pokémon, finally.

"I was thinking of a Psychic type… I figure one of those would be best, since it'd be nice to have a friend that could interact with me easily…"

"Sounds good! Which one?"

"A Solosis. I know they're usually pretty expensive, but I found an ad on Craigslist where this guy's Duosion had a baby that they need to get rid of ASAP so they could make some vacation. The little guy's only about 50 bucks…"

"Okay! We'll all get Craigslist Pokémon!" She gave an excited, high-pitched yell-laugh.

That was all kind of miserable, that is, until he came home from school the next day to a baby Solosis waiting for him to fawn over.

"'Samuel Daniel Marcus: male; born April 21st, 1994; 18 years old; no previous trainer record. Registered starter Pokémon: Paxton the Solosis.' Is this information correct?" A sour-looking middle-aged woman read off Sam's information one last time.

"Yes, that's correct, Miss."

"Do you have the hundred-dollar application fee?"

"I'd like to get that wavered, please."

"Reason?"

"Homelessness." An awkward silence.

"Granted." That was far too easy. "Alright, kid, everything's in order. All you gotta do now is head over to the Salem League Office and pick up your trainer gear. You can take the 10am shuttle there if you like." He would like that. "It's free for newly registered trainers." Even better.

"Thanks a lot."

"Good luck, Kid."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

The shuttle ride was less than eventful. The older man driving, Buck, was nice enough. He spent the ride telling Sam about his adventures and giving him helpful advice. "My starter was Lily, my little Poochyenna at the time. She was a bit rowdy, at first, but dark species usually are. She grew into a fine thing, though. Most loyal companion or friend I ever had. Only woman to stay in my life till death did us part, tell you what."

"I'm sorry to hear she died… how did that happen?"

"Got old. Not much else to it, really."

"Sorry…"

"Me too, son. But I just had to move on. You'll learn this soon enough, but in the trainin' world, you can't rely on people bein' there for you. The only constant is you." That was troubling, Sam didn't feel like a very constant person. "You just gotta learn to let go. That's the biggest skill you'll ever pick up."

"Huh… thanks." Sam didn't really know what to make of that, but guessed he'd have to eventually if Buck was right.

"We're finally here, kid. Go out and start your life for real now."

After receiving his gear, Sam was taught how it all worked. The training world was very automated, apparently. He received a new device called an "Omnidex" that served as a Pokedex, a phone, a music player, access to the internet, and apparently a bank for as many useless apps as its almost-endless memory could fit. He'd be sure to fill it with useless apps ASAP.

The Omnidex was basically a small tablet. It was all touch-screen and appeared simple enough while off; its only oddity was a round indent on the side where a pokeball could be plugged in to register newly caught Pokémon, see the stats of the ones already on your team, or check to see the basic information about strangers' Pokémon (such as the original trainer). It was also pretty sturdy, apparently able to survive a 50ft drop, totally waterproof, and made from materials resistant to most physical impacts and any sort of crazy attack a Pokémon could launch at it.

Along with this neat new toy, Sam was given his official Trainer's License, which would serve as his ID, digital currency, and key to Pokémon Center rooms. He was also given a Trainer's Guidebook app on the Omnidex which would be incredibly useful to be prepared for whatever dangers would lie wherever he went next. All of that, plus an initial $1000 credit on his card and a solid week's worth of Pokémon food made for a pretty fruitful trip.

Once Sam bought some more things to prepare for his journey—item capsules to reduce the space his items took, basic healing items, a few more pokeballs, a multi-tool, and a sleeping bag—he was ready to head to Keizer to begin the circuit. It was literally the nearest town to Salem, but Sam felt compelled to begin in the town where he grew up.

"Alright, Pax, there are a lot of wild Pokémon around here, but they're usually pretty tough because of how strong the trainers that come by here usually are—big city, you know. It'd be safer to hold off on training until we get to the Keizer routes where we can spend some more time before we challenge the gym. It's not like we're in any rush. Maybe we can catch another member for our team while we're at it." Pax replied with his unintelligible gurgling noises that only Sam ever seemed to understand.

_ That sounds fun! I can't wait till I start becoming stronger!_

"Me neither! This is all just so much so fast! I can't wait to see where this is gonna go!"  
_ You mean you don't even know why you're out here?_

"Oh, come on, Pax… You don't need to be psychic to know that much…"

_ That joke is a bad joke!_

"Harsh… Anyway: I figure I'll get some sort of magical epiphany or something while we're on this little adventure and then I'll know which way to steer this stupid life of mine."

_It's always good to believe in magic. I hope we'll be okay alone._

"Don't worry so much. Once we have a circuit under our belt, a whole new range of chances will open up for us. We can make our life whatever we want."

Much of their morning was then spent on discussing possible ways that they're lives could go.

"Champion Sam Marcus of Oregon!" And some less possible ones. "Reuniman and Paxton! Mild-mannered Rich Bitch and Prissy Pokémon by day, badass crime-stoppers and do-gooders by night!" And some pretty impossible ones.

Soon enough, they reached Keizer. The town was small and kind of dingy. It was mostly populated by rock, grass, and bug species. Also lower-middle-class families. Its humble little Class 1 Gym also doubled as City Hall and was a part of the same cluster of buildings as a pathetic little library/town archive and the police station. The town also had a high school, a few little restaurants, and some local shops. It was generally very unimpressive.

"Alright, Pax. Let's do a little research on what we're looking at facing here." Sam plugged his location into his Trainer's Guidebook app and read the results:

**Keizer has no major exports. **

**Wild Pokémon native to this town most commonly include (but are not limited to): ****Geodude, ****Roggenrola, ****Oddish, ****Seedot, ****Wurmple, ****Weedle, ****Venipede, ****Spinarak, ****Ratata**

**Uncommon Pokémon include (but are not limited to): ****Stunfisk, ****Nosepass, ****Hoppip, ****Kriketot, ****Paras, ****Ledyba, ****Purrloin**

**Rare Pokémon include (but are not limited to): ****Sudowoodo, ****Roselia, ****Paras, ****Venonat**

**Gym Leader: Tony Gomez "The Small Town Hero"**

** Gym Leader Anthony grew up in Keizer. Having attended McNary High school, worked at the family owned Roth's, and started a campaign to rid the city of vandalism before having even competed in the circuit, he was a very supported candidate for Gym Leader.**

** Anthony packs a powerful punch using some of his favorite local Pokémon. His battle strategy is to "follow his gut," adapting incredibly to all unexpected changes and taking risks. The best offense here is over-preparedness and a sturdy defense.**

** To be able to challenge the Keizer Gym, Class 1, one must simply defeat two Gym Trainers. Winning challengers will be awarded with the Iris Badge.**

"Wow! This thing really does have a lot of information! Ok. Class 1 Challenges usually involve two to three Pokémon and none will be higher than level 10. I think we should go train for a while and catch a new teammate while we're home."

_That sounds fun!_

"I think so too! Ok. So according to the Omnidex—" Sam plugged in Pax's pokeball.

** Paxton. Level 7. Known moves: Psywave, Reflect, Rollout. Status: Healthy. Percent left till level up: 95%**

"Well alright then! We can hang around in one of the big parks on the WillametteRiver and train a bit. I'm sure we'll also run into some good Pokémon to add to our team!"

_I'm so excited!_ So was Sam. This was becoming more real all the time.

Arriving to the edge of the river had been easy enough. Too easy, in fact. They didn't come across a single trainer to challenge or even a wild Pokémon that would stay in sight for more than a few seconds. That was understandable, though. A lot of the high school kids in the town were jackasses and treated the wild Pokémon like shit. They decided to just follow the river until they were in a less populated area where more wild Pokémon would be. That was a smart choice.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekikikikik i!" A shrill voice shrieked from behind Sam and Pax. Suddenly Pax took many quick blows from a barrage of tiny needle things.

"Fuck! Pax! Use Reflect!" Pax replied with his random garble. He was in battle mode now.

A little yellow bug with a horn on its head and a big, red nose stared at the pair from a distance. "_Kirikirikirikiri!_"

_ It's ready to go._

"I can see as much, why is it so pissed?"

_ I think it just wants to fight for fun…_

"Keep it away with a Reflect while I see what's its deal is"

_ Right._ Sam pulled out the Omnidex and scanned this random little opponent.

** Weedle. Male. Level 7. Close to evolution. Trained Pokémon.**

"Guess we're not catching it. Alright, then. Pax! Hit him with a Psywave!"The Psywave hit the little Weedle directly and it obviously did a decent amount of damage. The Weedle retaliated with another Poison Sting.

"God _dammit_, Bradley. What the _fuck_ have I told you about battling random people without my permi—SAM!? SAM!" The voice boomed from seemingly nowhere and Sam looked around. Before he could process what was happening, he was tackled from the side. "SAM!"

"ERICA!" He couldn't believe this! One of his best friends from back home was here now, accidentally letting her Pokémon try to kill him. She was a cute girl, short and curvy with dark, blonde hair. She was dressed very practically: tough denim jeans, comfortable cotton shirt, and a nice, tough jacket. Her square-framed glasses were firmly on the bridge of her nose, and her smile securely on her face. "Are you in the circuit, too? Are you traveling with anyone? We should travel together! It's safe n' shit and we can smoke weed together again and holy shit this will be so fun!"

"Dude, yeah! I can't believe our luck! Where are you hoping to go next? I already beat Tony, have you? Our Class two challenge can be at—"

"_Kirikirikirikiri!_"

"Oh… I guess we should finish this battle, huh?" Erica looked at her rowdy little Weedle."

"I'm down!"

"Brad! Use String Shot and hold Solosis down!"

"_Kiiiiirikirikirikiri!_" The shrill little voice filled the air, then so did a shower of white, silk string. Pax was totally covered and stuck to a random tree in his attempt to shake off the stuff.

"Good! Poison Sting!" The Poison Sting hit and was all but absorbed into Pax's green membrane.

** Not very effective. Not very effective. Erica's Omnidex was apparently watching the battle and giving her advice.**

"Well, shit."

"Pax, Rollout!" Pax began rolling in place and completely destroyed his silky prison. The Rollout charged for a bit longer as Erica just kind of stared, then Pax launched his attack.

** It's super effective! It's super effective! Weedle is unable to battle. One-hundred dollars awarded to victor.**

"Well, ok! That was still fun," Erica said with a chipper voice.

"I guess! Keep that little shit in check, will you?" Sam chuckled.

"I'm sorry!" Erica smiled sheepishly as she spoke. "I'm still trying to figure this whole 'Pokémon Business' out."

"It's totally ok. I know the feeling. Hey, why was your Omnidex yelling at you that whole time?"

"Oh, I have the battle announcer app running. It's super helpful! I'm learning a lot."

"Huh, that's pretty cool! Oh, here," Sam pulled out his Omnidex, touched the screen a few times, and then Erica's beeped. "that was definitely a for-fun battle. Neither of us was prepared. I feel bad taking a victory payout."

"Cool."

* * *

**AN: **Today, I learned that FF doesn't like to keep my Word formatting, so I will now be writing on FF's editor instead.  
sorry if the formatting is weird on this chapter. I'll probably get around to fixing it.


	3. Small Victories

**Small Victories**

True to his word, Sam and Erica found a secluded little part of the forest to smoke a few bowls and catch up. "I'm just…you know." Sam's thoughts were kind of hazy, but it didn't really matter: they were both on the same level anyway.

"I totally do."

"I just…need to be ME now, you know?"

"No, I totally do! That's why I'm on my adventure now, too, as well, also!"

"I'm just… like… why the _fuck_ do I always have to do what my mom wants, you know? I love her and shit but I don't wanna… fuckin'... do all that shit she says. Like… she tells me to do shit and I don't wanna."

"Dude! Sam!"

"What!?" Erica startled him.

"I was just gonna say that… I forgot…"

"It's ok… I just—"

"I totally get it! I think it's bullshit that my parents want me to settle down and just be an adult already! I'm fucking. 17! I really just need to have my own adventure. I need the experience. I need the fuckin'…wind up my skirt or whatever."

"What."

"It's like. Ok. Imagine you're eating the best burger you've ever eaten. And when you take a bite, it's like you're skydiving, you know? It's just _that_ good. That's the feeling I need! I need to be free and shit. I'm like… a while… a wild Pidgeot that just needs to be free for a bit before she becomes a mom or something."

"Ooooh." There was a silence that lasted about 3minutes in real time, but only about 3 seconds in their time.

"You know what'd be cool? If Pax could use trick room. That'd be hella trippy! Ha…ha…ha…"

"Yeah oh my god. Hey. What are you gonna do after the circuit?"

"No fucking idea. You?"

"School. This is just kind of a break."

"Haha… Chill."

They missed having these heart-to-hearts.

After their little session of catching up, Sam and Erica (and their Pokémon) decided that it'd be a good idea to smoke. There was a cute little Shari's Diner in town that they decided to visit one last time before they'd make their final move out of Keizer. It was pretty late by the time they got there—about 1am. They really had spent all day catching up. It's not like they were doing much, but they were exhausted.

While the food was being prepared, the two started talking about possible next destinations. Erica thought Silverton would be a good next goal. "The wooded areas that we have to get through to reach Silverton will be great for training! And we can see if we really got what it takes to make it in this big bad world."

"Except we're literally a town away from home."

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Honestly, we're both really scared. It'll be a good way to honestly see if we're gonna chicken out." Erica seemed totally serious about this.

"Well, when you're so bleak about it, it starts to seem like that's gonna happen!" Sam was surprised at her proposal that they could do anything less than move on.

"It's a good test, but I don't recommend letting chickening out be an option. You don't want to be stuck in this shithole being Keizer's sweetheart for the next ten years of your life." Sam and Erica both looked in the direction of this new—and somewhat downcast—voice that came at them. Tony Gomez, the town's gym leader, was headed in their direction. "You'll get nowhere in life fast if you stay here…"

"Oh… hey, Tony." Erica spoke like they were friends. Then again, she _had _beaten his Gym already. It was likely they talked at least a little bit, so it was totally possible that they were friends. "Are you…drunk?"

"No." He was. "Hey… You're that girl that beat me yesterday. It really was a good battle…" Tony let out a huge sigh. "You have great potential, girl."

"Um! Wow! Thanks a lot! Wow, and you're a gym leader. That's so nice!" Erica was always super polite. It was a cute little quirk.

"Thank me by not wasting it." Erica just stared at him. I guess it was time for an awkward silence to be broken.

"Hey… Umm… I'm Sam! I'm hoping to challenge you sometime soon." He chuckled nervously. "I hope I have the _potential_ to beat you! Ahah..!" The ice was officially broken.

"Funny, kid."

"Thanks."

_Sammy. That was the most un-serious thing I've ever heard._

"Really, Pax?"

_Yes._

"Shit."

"Don't worry about it, kid." Tony was probably already so used to people fumbling their words around him. People usually thought he was cool, though to Sam and his very admittedly elitist friends decided long ago that he was actually kind of a loser. He really wasn't doing a great job at disproving that right now.

It was honestly just so stressful to be seeing a person that would be judging him on a competitive basis before he had to. Sam was never really one to instigate people more important than him.

Now Erica had the job of breaking an awkward silence, because Sam was thinking too long. "So I'm pretty excited to see you and Sam battle… I'm sure it'll be a really cool battle or whatever…"

"Yeah, I'm sure it will be. Then you kids will go off somewhere bigger and better. I'm actually kind of jealous, you know?"

"Well, I mean… you're a gym leader, aren't you?" Sam was always under the impression that gym leaders were well-off financially.

"No, kid. I can afford it. I just don't have the guts. I'm jealous because you kids are gonna go out and work your asses off to make your dreams come true. I'll never be able to get over my fear of failure to do that. I'll spend my nights, reliving my high school glory until I go nuts and lose track of time. That's all I _can _do, really. And I guess that's ok. But I won't be happy. Kids, work to be happy. Don't be afraid. You don't want to end up a lonely adult getting drunk on Tuesday nights and spilling his guts to a couple of kids that can kick your ass."

After his random speech, but not before taking a bite out of both Sam and Erica's pies, Tony stumbled away out of the humble little diner to god-knows-where. But without failure, he'll be at his gym when it opens in seven hours. Consistency is often a coping mechanism.

"Erica. That was so weird." Sam was still trying to processed what had just happened.

"I know… he has this thing where he clings onto little victories, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's like… you saw how he was complaining about his life being so boring and still. He always does that. He's given up on being successful in the bigger picture, as in happy…I guess. But he battles like his life depends on him."

"Wow…really? I heard that Class 1-3 gyms were prone to forfeit matches if the trainer seemed like they had potential."

"I don't know about that, but I know that every battle means the world to Tony. I barely beat him. The match was half a second away from being a tie. He's really intense for an intro to the circuit, I would say."

"Huh… I guess that's why my brother saved him for fourth. Junior's all about challenges like that."

"Well… I promise that that's exactly what you'll get."

They ate their pie in a silence that reminded Sam of when he lived in Keizer only two years back. Stress, hopelessness, and monotony filled the air. He finally felt like he was back home.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Sam woke up the next morning at about 8am and decided to get some early training in and work through the day. Pax ate the day before, and for some reason, he only ate once every week or so. Sam just spread some peanut butter on a slice of bread, called it good, and set off. He'd just eat his packed lunch later if he got hungry. After writing a note explaining to Erica where they left to, they set out.

Staying over at Erica's for the night was a great idea: they were near a few prime training spots. They walked about an hour to the part of town where the houses were few and far between. This would be a good place to camp for the day and maybe catch another team member.

By about noon, Sam and Pax had fought through many of the Pokémon that were often seen around the wild near Keizer. None of them stood out particularly, though. It _had _been great training; that was the first priority anyway. Their first partner needed to be something awesome, so they weren't about to settle. A few minutes after they had settled down on a stump behind some old factory or something for a lunch break, though, they were in for a nice surprise.

A little chirping noise sounded from behind a little scrap heap. "_Eeeeeeeeeee!_" Sam went through the little pile of scraps and found a fat bundle. "_Eeeeeeee! Eeeeekikikiki!_" It chirped once more.

"Huh…this thing is weird and ugly, but also kind of really cute." Sam pulled out his Omnidex and scanned the little thing. A picture of a fat worm big enough to hold in both arms showed on the display. It had a little horn on its head, white spots on its cheeks, and big yellow eyes. Its little mouth was kind of like a beak.

**Wild Burmy: Male. Shiny. Level 11. 70% health. Trash Cloak.**

"Trash Cloak? I wish these things had a _little_ more information for us before we decide to catch a Pokémon. I guess it's a good way to push the whole "Catch 'em All" slogan the government tried to apply in the early 90's I guess…"

_So are we going to battle this? _Sam thought for a second. He turned to stare at the little Burmy. It wasn't like the Pokémon he regularly saw around Keizer. It had it's own little armor, so it was clearly a smart Pokémon. And it was still in a worm state. He was sure that meant that it would evolve more, and it wasn't fully evolved at level 11—that was a good sign.

"Wait, 'shiny!?'" The bug's skin was slightly bluer than the one on the Omnidex display. "Well… that settles it. We aren't gonna battle it, Pax."

_We're not?_

"Nope. We're gonna catch this little sucker! Use a Rollout!" Pax followed orders and rammed his body into the Burmy's once he gained some momentum. "That didn't seem like it did much… Shit. Pax! Hit it with another rollout, but let it get stronger first!" The Burmy just sort of stared until Pax let loose.

"_Eeeeeeekikiki!_" The Burmy shrieked and opened it's eyes wide. A small, transparent dome covered the Pokémon and Pax's Rollout did nothing at all to it. "_Kikikikikiki!_" While Pax was close and dazed, the Burmy tackled him. This was one smart bug.

"Hit it with a Psywave! It probably won't do too much, but it should daze it long enough for you to get a decent Rollout on it! Go!" Pax followed orders and the strategy worked great.

"Alright, I'm ready! Stay clear, Pax!" Sam threw a pokeball at the bug.

Click one. _Am I gonna catch it? Shit, I didn't weaken it enough, did I?_

Click two. _Ugh it's gonna break any second. Pax, get ready to attack again._

Click three. _It can go either way!_

_*DING*_

**Pokémon Captured to registered pokeball.**

Sam picked up the ball, plugged it into the Omnidex, and got his information.

**Wild Burmy: Male. Shiny. Level 11. 22% health. No Cloak.  
Attacks: Protect, Tackle. **

**Defenses: Trash Cloak boosts physical defense and lowers the Pokemon's speed a bit.  
Sandy Cloak adds extra damage to physical hits.**

**Grass Cloak adds camouflage outdoors for stealthy defense.**

"Well this is pretty cool. We have a really versatile fighter on our hands. I wonder how we're doing for training. We might be ready to challenge Tony soon. Omnidex, give me Paxton's stats, please."

**Level 12  
Attacks: **

**Psywave, Reflect, Rollout, Snatch**

"Cool. You're both definitely strong enough to take on Tony. I'm pretty sure we can beat him. His strongest Pokémon probably isn't any stronger than level 13 on a Class 1 challenge." Sam remembered what Erica said the night before right then. "Err… I guess more training can't do us any harm. Let's make it a goal for us all to be at level 15 by the end of the day, then we can take tomorrow off and challenge Tony in the evening. Deal?

_Deal!_

"_Kikikiki!"_

"Uh…ok! Sweet!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Erica woke up at about noon the next day. _Last night was a really good day one to this whole adventure thing! I didn't expect to be staying home on my first day out, though. Oh well… Sam will probably have Tony's badge by tomorrow then we can set out._

"_Gyajgyah!" _Erica's Turtwig, Sheldon was asking for his breakfast. Her Trubbish, Layla, was nowhere to be seen. She was probably just eating out of the garbage again. Erica figured that was a "win-win" enough situation to just let be. She could see Bradley outside her window hanging from a tree as a newly evolved Kakuna. He was probably fine chilling there.

"Alright, Sheldon. How about a nice Caesar Salad?"

"_Gyahyah!"_

She went into the kitchen. Sure enough, Layla was eating out of the garbage. What a gross little…creature she was. Erica wasn't really sure what kind of Pokémon she was (her best guess was some sort of bear.) _She really is cute in her own weird way…_ Her mother was also in the kitchen.

"Oh, hey, Erica. I made some breakfast. I figured we could talk gal-to-gal about this adventure you're going on." _Oh, god dammit. Here it comes._

"Oh, mom… Is this really necessary?" Erica pleaded. _I do _not _need this right now._

"It is." No arguing would beat out a mother's scornful tone.

"Okay…" Erica sat down and started picking at her plate of eggs, hash-browns, and pancakes. _Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh …_

"I'm… well… proud of you. You have your first badge and you seem to be picking up this Pokémon stuff well…" The woman looked awkwardly as the words left her mouth. _Wait. Did I just hear that correctly?_

"Wait, really? I mean, thank you! Thanks a lot! But this is really unexpected!" _What the fuck!?_

"Yeah, well… I just wanted you to know I'll help you out. I'll support you. Take the time you need. Your father still isn't so fond of the idea, but he'll come around. Erica, we just want you to be happy." _Huh… I guess so._

"I know… thank you."

"Of course… Anyway. I thought I'd surprise you with a girls' day out before you left for a while. We can go shopping for new supplies and go out for a nice lunch. Tonight, you and Sam can plan the next few steps of your trip and you can get down to business tomorrow. Sound good?" _That sounds great, mom… Perfect, actually._

"That sounds _great_, mom! Thanks a lot…"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

At around 8pm that night, both Sam and Erica got home and plopped down on their beds.

"I caught a new Pokémon today. It's called Burmy. I named him Coconut because he basically looks like a large metal coconut. I trained a lot too."

"I went shopping with my mom. I guess we're cool about this adventure thing. She also got me some supplies for survival. We're _legit_ now, son!..."

"That's fuckin'... awesome… Ugh… I'm so tired and I'm ready to crash right now…"

"Me too… Are you also ready for a gym battle tomorrow?"

"I'm ready to kick some major ass, if that's what you mean."

"It is."

"_zzz…zzz…zzz…"_

"_zzz…zzz…zzz…"_


	4. Bigger Victories

**Bigger Victories**

Today was the big day: if Sam could beat Tony on his first challenge, then he'd be more confident about going out and doing this. The morning was spent restocking on berries to give his Pokémon for the battle, potions, and some more supplies for the next few days. If all went well, they'd head for the Silvertoon Woods right after the gym battle. Between errands, He went to the gym to battle another Gym Trainer. Both were defeated by noon, and at 1pm, Sam's first gym challenge was beginning.

"Welcome, new trainer. I am glad to be the Gym Leader to introduce you into your Oregon Gym Circuit. I accept your Class 1 challenge. Are you ready to hear a few rules?" Sam could only nod. He was so excited and nervous. "As challenger, you may make the first move. I will use three Pokémon, but you may use as many as a full party. Recovery items are allowed.

"Oh, and a special rule unique to the Keizer Gym: the winner of the match will be determined in a "best-two-out-of-three" style. This means that the first player to knock out two Pokémon wins. You may only use each Pokémon in one round. No substitutions.

"Do you agree to the terms of your gym challenge?" Sam looked over at Erica sittin on the sideline and she gave him a reassuring look.

"I do."

"Let us begin. Go! Geodude!"

"_Gryaaaaaah!" _A deep growl came from the rugged Pokémon. _Oh, crap. I can't believe I didn't plan for a rock species… Coconut won't stand a chance. Pax, _Sam turned to his starter, _you don't have any clear advantage here, but do you think you can win this round? It should be smooth sailing after this._

_I can try. _Pax was always ready to fight.

_Ok. Start off with the most focused. Psywave you can muster. He's smart. Once he catches on to our strategy of communicating telepathically, he'll probably start attacking randomly and quickly. Be on your guard._

Pax followed the strategy and got a decent hit on the Geodude.

"I got your game, kid. Geodude! Get all slick with a Rock Polish, then start pelting them with Rock Throws!"

"Gryaaah! Groooooh!" He wasn't holding up.

_Fuck. Just use Psywaves at the rocks as they come. Hopefully you can break themt._

Pax was able to break a few of the rocks, but not all of them. He took a hefty amount of damage. "Pax! Try Snatch!" Pax went right up to the Geodude, received a huge rock straight on, and fainted. "Ugh… Return, Pax…"

"Return Geodude. Go! Purrloin!"

_Sneaky little fuckers. _Sam knew all about these little cat-like Pokémon. They were deceptive little thieves. They were also mischievous battlers. "Go, Coconut!" The Burmy emerged with his shiny new Trash Cloak that he weaved that morning.

"Purrloin, use Assist!"

_Sneaky. Little. Fuckers. _"Protect!" The familiar impenetrable dome surrounded Coconut as a gust of wind shot from the general direction of the Purrloin. _Fuck. _Now Sam was freaking out about what the third Pokémon would be. The results of Sam's first challenge would rely totally on the third round. He didn't expect this round to last much longer, because Coconut got a lot stronger and a learned a move that would work great against dark species.

"Bug Bite!" Sam Commanded at Coconut. As Coconut began to attack, his pupils shrank significantly and his mouth began to secrete some odd liquid. The Purrloin didn't last more than 15 seconds in Coconut's deadly little bite.

"Alright, Sam. It looks like you've made it to the third round. Your first Gym Badge relies on this round. Go! Beautifly!" A large, beautiful butterfly Pokémon emerged from the light of the pokeball.

"_Eeeeeeeeee! Eeeeee!" _It almost sounded like it was singing.

"Coconut, use Tackle!" The little worm went for the Beautifly, but it dodged much too easily.

"_Eeeeeeeeekikikiki!" _Coconut was _pissed._

"Poison Sting!" _Crap_

"Protect!" The barrage of poison barbs just absorbed into the shield. "Quick, tackle it out of the air then give it the nastiest Bug Bite you can muster!" Coconut did just that. He began gnawing on the Beautifly's body and it started to bleed a little.

"_Eeeeeeee! Eeeee!" _This time, it was clearly screaming in pain.

"Use Gust!" With a great flap of its wings, the Beautifly sent the little Burmy flying. The Burmy landed with a hard thud. "Again!" The Beautifly launched another gust, but Coconut was able to roll out of the way.

"Coconut! Eat the Oran berry then give 'em another Tackle!" Coconut ate the berry and was visibly feeling less worn out from the battle almost instantly. Obedient of orders, he hen launched his body weight at the Beautifly.

"Beautifly! Give him a fat Poison Sting right to the face!"

"_Eeeeee!" _Anger.

"Fuck! Coconut! Protect!" As coconut continued to fly through the air, he was encircled in his safe little force-field. He landed roughly on the Beautifly and did some serious damage.

"Get up, Beautifly! You got this!" A wing barely twitched. "…Fine, then. Return." The Beautifly returned with a flash of red light. "You did great, girl. Rest up."

Sam looked over at Erica. She had a huge smile on her face.

"Congratulations, Champ-to-be. I hereby award you with my final Iris Badge! With this, You may access Class 2 shopping privileges, the ability to trade for Pokémon up to level 20, And you may legally use the HM Cut out of battle. I'd like to give out my favorite TM. Toxic. I didn't really get to use it in our battle, but it's a doozy of a move." Tony looked positively pleased.

"Thank you so much, Tony! But wait… What do you mean by your 'final Iris Badge'?"

"I'm resigning." That was surprising, but it also great news. "I've decided to take a chance and explore. I'm starting my own adventure competing in a circuit. I'm going to start far South. Maybe we'll cross paths."

"I really hope we do! We can both battle you again once we're all stronger. We'll be 'those great trainers from Keizer'! I feel it in my bones or whatever." They all laughed.

"I hope your bones are right" Tony said with the widest smile both Sam and Erica had ever seen on him. They all exchanged a laugh, not that the joke was particularly funny. The way the world worked was, though.

They were all in the same boat. All three of them. So different in age, motivation, and personality, yet they all were searching for the same thing. The fruition of their dreams. They were all now the three kids from the same small town that were brave enough to exercise their right to the pursuit of happiness.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Before they parted ways, Tony decided to have a proper meal with Sam and Erica. Over dinner they exchanged their stories—as well as their hopes, dreams, fears, and burdens. They bonded in the way that only people with the same grievances really can. It wasn't even really a "Pokémon Trainer" thing, what they had. It was more like a "Fellow Human Being" thing they had going for them.

After dinner, Sam and Erica saw Tony off. Since he didn't technically have any badges, he had to get special permission, but he was able to use the Pidgeot from his Class 6 Challenge team to fly to Medford, where he would begin his Circuit Challenge.

"Bye, guys. We'll have to hit each other up some time. Who knows, maybe fate or some dumb luck will bring us together again. Hopefully by then we can all gloat about how great we're doing."

"I hope so too." Erica hugged Tony.

"I'm sure we will!" Sam hugged him too.

"We'll see." Tony shot them a teasing wink and then he was off.

"All right! Well… To the Silverton Woods!"

"Sam… it's like 7pm already. I don't need to get lost in those woods at night just yet. Also, I'm pretty sure you should rest your team. I mean. I just think that'd be the easiest thing to do"

"Oh… Ok, then. Tomorrow we wake at dawn and start making our way through!"

"I'll let mom know we'll be staying another night."

There was a little pride welling in Sam, Erica, and Tony that night before they rested their heads to sleep. These were the moments that motivated them to keep working. These were the significant victories in life.


	5. Exertions

**Exertions**

Sam woke up to the familiar nagging from his alarm at about 6am and he made sure Erica got up, too. By the time they both got ready for the day, prepared their Pokemon, and got everyone fed, it was about 8:30am.It wasn't exactly dawn, but they'd still have a pretty early start.

This would be their first time really traveling as trainers. It was so exciting for everyone! They had a pretty rough path ahead of them: the Silverton Woods were notorious for getting people lost, injured, and well-trained. They were ready.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I can't believe we're already lost. We're only like an hour in to this bullshit! Why won't this stupid map work?" Erica hit the back of her Omnidex a few times, clearly frustrated. "This is literally so shitty."

"I'm pretty sure it's so new trainers have an extra challenge. It's like how it's vague with Pokemon info until you catch it. We should've gotten these things jailbroken or something.

"Wait, do you know which way to go to get to Silverton?" Erica seemed like she had a plan.

"Yeah. We should be moving mostly East."

"Oh, wait! We're in luck! Mom got me this handy-dandy—" Erica pulled out a shiny round object out of her backpack "—Compass! See? We can be good trainers and rely on nature and shit. Eastward!"

"Well, shit. Cool!" Sam was thankful that Erica always had something new to randomly pull out of her hat—err… backpack.

Just as they started moving towards their goal, they heard a loud hiss-screech and a glob of something white shot the compass out of Erica's hand. Sam looked over to the source of the glob only to see a young girl with a huge Ariados out and a Gastly floating silently behind her. "Umm… Hi!" Sam flashed the most relax, unworried smile he could muster. "Can we, uh… help you?"

"Yeah, shut the fuck up and hand over all of your food and anything I could pawn." This small girl was literally robbing them right now."

Sam turned to Erica, who was clearly terrified, then back to the grungy looking girl. "Fuck no!" She only reacted by pulling a cigarette out of her baggy denim jacket, holding it up to her Gastly, and letting it light the cigarette with a mild Will-O-Wisp.

"Fine, then. Dahlia, Leech Life." It was _very _illegal to use Pokemon moves on humans, though Sam was mostly just concerned with surviving. He jumped out of the way of the attack and hid behind a tree. Erica kind of fumbled and let out Bradley. She started looking through her backpack again. _Fuck this, _he thought.

"Come on out, you two!" Sam let out both of his Pokemon. He shot a glance over at Erica, who was apparently feeding her Kakuna something. He couldn't believe this. "Pax, hit that Ariados with a fatty Rollout! Coconut, give that Gastly a Bug Bite!" Pax's Rollout seemed to do a fair amount of damage and the Ariados was slightly stunned. "Good! Get it with a Psywave while it's down!"

Sam shifted his attention to Coconut now. He had done very little damage. "Coco! We're gonna try that Protect Bomb thing we did at the gym again, ok? Quick, launch yourself at the Gastly!"

"Dahlia, Shadow Sneak on that little fucker!" Sam didn't really process what this meant for the battle. The next thing he knew: Pax was out. Cold. _Fuck._ Sam withdrew Pax.

"Bradley! Focus Energy!" Sam heard Erica command. Much good a bulked-up Kakuna would do.

"Erica, can you please do something _helpful_!? I'm getting my ass handed to me!"

"Wow! Fine, then!" The sass in her voice was very clear. "Brad! Twinneedle on that Ariados. Pair it up with a Fury Attack, too. I'm literally so done with her right now."

Sam looked over only to see a huge Beedrill buzz quickly through the sky and rapidly jab the Ariados with incredible power compared to what he's seen up until now. The Ariados fainted quickly.

"Wow! Fuck you guys. I'm out! Fumes, use Haze so we can get the fuck out of here!" A thick smog quickly covered the area, and they couldn't see anything. As soon as the air cleared, Sam and Erica saw an empty space where the crook had been.

"Erica… I'm so sorry for snapping at you. I was just trippin' the fuck out, and—"

"It's fine. I get it, I promise. I'm not mad at all!"

"Are you okay? How did you evolve Bradley?"

"I had to feed him the two Rare Candies mom gave me so he could evolve and help out…" Sam just stared. Rare Candy had long since been illegal. Studies showed that the drug mutated its recipient by making it grow much larger than was natural and giving it an unfair advantage against what nature produced. "I know, Sam. She gave them to me in case of an emergency, and I think I used them well…"

"I don't blame you, Erica. This will stay between us…" Sam was grateful that they were still safe and had all of their belongings. The fact was, they were under attack. What did it really matter if a minor law was broken in order to save a few lives/.

"Thank you…" She looked down at her feet. She was clearly ashamed of what she had to do to survive. She also appeared to feel a little guilty. Of what, though? Maybe she felt she treated her Pokemon unfairly or like she used him.

"Hey… Let's go up in a tree and smoke or something. It'll be chill. We'll get a nice view and we can rest from that fuckin' trauma…" Sam looked at her hopefully.

"Yeah… that sounds really nice right now."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

They spent a few hours in the tree just talking about everything and nothing. They didn't even smoke that much. "You know, weed was illegal for a long time." Sam was making his favorite kind of small-talk.

"Oh, you don't say." Erica smiled and made a condescending silly face. She knew Sam's struggle with Marijuana's legal status very well. Even though it had been legal for a few years, it was still frowned upon by a lot of people.

"Maybe they should just regulate Rare Candy use, you know? Maybe in cases of injury or on abnormally weak Pokemon, it could be okay. I mean, bug species usually grow really quick, but they peak really quickly, too…"

"I guess if anything, Bradley's going to be on the same level as some of the stronger typed species." Erica was starting to feel a bit better.

_Smoking always helps, _Sam thought to himself. "Welp, I say we get a move on. Gotta get through to Silverton in a few days. I say we get rolling again."

"Good idea." The climbed down the tree and let out their Pokemon. Pax happily hovered around Sam's head while Coconut made his way to the top of Sam's head. Bradley took to the air around Erica. Sam guessed he'd be playing guard for a while now. As annoying as Bradley was, Sam was glad he had Erica's back. Her Turtwig, Sheldon, happily trotted alongside her while she held Layla in her arms.


	6. Missed Connections

**Missed Connections**

Once Sam and Erica started seriously trying to make their way through the Silverton Woods, they made great time. The Omnidex map predicted only another day's worth of travel to get to Silverton itself. They were also getting a love of good training done. Being around so many bug Pokémon, one of Pax's major weaknesses, was great for training. There were also a lot of flying and grass species around. They even saw a Beautiful brown Sawsbuck with its little Deerling, though they didn't dare pick that fight.

"We've been making really great time!" Erica was very pleased with their progress.

"Oh, I know! We're pretty deep into the woods, though. Let's not get too cocky or else we'll Jynx it and end up hella lost." Where was a loud howling screech coming from behind the place where the two stopped for a rest. They turned around only to see—

"It's that fuckin' _girl_! Pax! Get ready to fight!" All Pokémon were out and ready to fight, and they would have if she wasn't just standing there staring at them. "Hey! What the fuck is your angle! Come fight us!" She didn't. She just stared at them, unmoving, save her gaze.

"She's trying to freak us out, Sam…" Erica was probably right. They would continue on their way.

The rest of their trek through the deeper part of the forest was just as unsettling. Every few minutes they would see the girl and turn away to avoid her—they just didn't need the extra strain. "Sam…" Erica piped up. "Sam, I've been looking at the map on and off since we've been in the deep of the woods, and…uh… It looks like there's a solid junk of land that the girl is trying to keep us away from.

"Solid. Then that's where we go next." Sam was determined, now. They had been training a _lot_. Coconut had even started evolving: he'd completely withdrawn into his Cloak and he would be due to emerge anytime he was let out of the pokeball. "We've got a bone to pick."

The group moved toward the area that was being secured. It was really weird—the whole time they were there, they would hear little noises near or see random sudden movements in their peripheral vision. "This is sketching me the fuck out. Holy, _shit_, Erica."

"No, I totally get it. Let's just go!"

"No way, something funny's going on here and we need to put a stop to it." There was a rustling above them. They looked up to see the grungy thief-girl glaring at them from the large branch of a huge tree. "Oh, I've just about had it!"

The girl looked down at them and then did something totally unexpected: she bared her teeth and growled. _Get the fuck out of my home, now! _ Her voice came out of nowhere and everywhere at the same time—no. It was in his head.

"Did you hear that, Sam?" Thank God.

"Yeah. So we're not crazy."

"Well, no. But I don't feel the safest right now." She was right. How the _fuck_ were they going to get out of this?

The girl jumped out of the tree, landed right in front of them, bared her teeth, and then let out the most ungodly sound they had ever heard. They clenched their teeth and eyes as they tried desperately to muffle the banshee scream in their ears.

The noise has stopped and Sam and Erica looked around for the girl. She had vanished. Instead, an angry Scolipede came charging right at them. "AAAAAAAAAAAH!" As Sam let out a terrified yell, he also sent Pax a mental message: _Get that thing with a Rollout! _ Pax charged up a powerful Rollout and rammed right into the Scolipede.

It decided to lash out. It reared up on its hind legs menacingly and then that sound filled their heads again. Something wasn't right here. Sam opened his eyes and looked around as the sound continued. He noticed Coconut didn't seem so affected. He was still in his weird cocoon-trance. "COCO!" Sam roared over the drone. "WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!" Sam frantically looked around at their surroundings then at the Scolipede again. That's when Sam noticed what was weird.

"ITS HIND ANTENNAE, COCO! AT THE RIGHT ANGLE, IT LOOKS LIKE A FUZZY TAIL! BUG BITE THE _SHIT _OUT OF THAT!" Coconut's eyes opened wide, and a quick move, he threw off his Trash Cloak to reveal beautiful yellow-and-blue wings. And Bug Bite the shit out of it, he did.

The air around the Scolipede started to shift around. The appearance of the Scolipede has completely altered—in its place was now a small, gray canine creature. Erica wasted no time in having the Omnidex scan it, if only to find some sort of reasoning behind these odd things:

**Zorua. Male. Level 22. Ability: Illusion. 65% health.**

So this was all the work of a little Pokémon. That was actually really impressive. Sam _had _to catch it. "Erica! Dibs!"

"I don't _want _that little shit! Besides, you already did initial damage. It's all yours." She said this with a disgusted look.

"Alright, Coconut, you have free reign of the battle. Show me what you got!" The Zorua leapt at the newly evolved Mothim's wing. Coconut retaliated by shooting a small barrage of glowing white orbs at it from his wings.Sam's Omnidex started vibrating, so he took a look at the screen.

**Level up! Coconut has reached level 23! Coconut has learned Confusion!**

Sam looked at Coconut's stats, and figured that the move he just used was Hidden Power. _A pretty nice move to have_, he thought.

The Zorua bared his teeth. Sam could guess what was coming: and everyone else did, too, apparently, because they all covered their ears. There was a visible disturbance in the air in front of the Zorua as he contorted his face. That disturbance turned into a bigger orb that they could see head towards coconut, who—again—appeared relatively unaffected. Must've been a resisted move type.

Coconut used another Bug Bite and that sealed the deal. The Zorua had fainted. Sam tossed a pokeball at it. It blinked thrice then settled.

**Pokémon caught! Zorua. Male. Level 22. Ability: Illusion. 03% health. **The Omnidex also listed all of Zorua's known moves. He had a solid seven under his belt right now. **Would you like to name the newly captured Zorua?  
**

"Give me _one_ second. Come on out, little guy!" The Zorua came out of his pokeball and whimpered inquisitively. "Alright, here's the deal. I want you to join my team. We all want to go out and get strong together. The ultimate goal is to just be happy and know what to do next, but for now, getting strong is a good goal.

"We'd love to have you along with us, but I could see you putting up a fight for what you have. So I'm giving you a choice. Do you want to stay home, or be a part of my team?"

Wordlessly, the Zorua ran into the thick of the forest.

"Understandable." Sam set down Zorua's pokeball on the grass and turned around again to see if they could finally find their way to Silverton.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As the duo continued to try and navigate their way through the Silverton Woods, Erica tried hard to distract Sam from his lost capture by telling him all about her last year of high school and managed to get Sam to gossip for a while about all of the people from his graduating class that had already fucked up severely. Mostly he just listened, eyes wandering as he absent-mindedly poked Pax, who was in his arms.

"Hey, Sam! What if we have a battle?" Erica seemed pretty excited at the chance to lift his spirits. "Starter versus starter! It'll be fun!" She was decided.

"I mean… I guess…" Sam didn't really know if that's what he wanted to do right now, but she was trying to help; he may as well humor her. "You down, Pax?" Pax replied with a little consenting gurgle.

"All right, Rules: First Pokémon to 25% health loses. Omnidexes need to be on that weird announcer mode so we don't overdo it, though. We gotta conserve some of their health." She sent out her Turtwig. "Alright, Sheldon! Let's do this!"

**Sheldon. Male Turtwig. Level 17. 100% Health. **

"Ok, Pax!" Sam pulled out his Omnidex and activated the Battle Voiceover app.

**Paxton. Male Solosis. Level 21. 100% Health.**

**Challenger **_**Erica Nixon **_**has randomly been awarded the first move! **Erica's Omnidex shouted from her hands.

"Sorry, figured I'd get an app to see who would go first in battles… Umm… Sheldon! Use Curse!" Sheldon withdrew into his shell and it began glowing various shades of purple. "Sorry… I don't like using defensive moves but, uh… I hate being the first attacker." _Weird. _This had to be a strategy thing.

**Sheldon's defense and attack increased! Sheldon's speed decreased!  
**There it was.

"Pax! Use Rollout!" Pax charged into Sheldon, but he didn't seem to do much damage.  
**Direct damage. Rollout was not very effective. Turtwig's health: 95% **_ Damn._

"Razor Leaf!" _Oh. _Since Pax had been lured in, he took every Razor Leaf straight to the face.  
**Direct damage. Solosis's health: 70%**

"Pax! Get some distance between you and Sheldon, then use a Psywave!" Pax followed orders. Sheldon tried to dodge the attack, but he had been significantly slowed down from his Curse and he took the attack directly.

**Direct damage. Turtwig's health: 78%**

"Sheldon! Absorb!" Sheldon's leaves sent out a few glowing green orbs at Pax. If he managed to sap from Pax's health, this battle would be a slow and painful one.

"Pax! Use Reflect!" Pax's membrane began to shine a pink color over his green and the orbs bounced off of it and went back into Sheldon. He cringed for a second as the orbs exited his body, now a light blue, and went into Pax.

**Reflected Damage. Absorb was not very effective. Turwig's health: 70% Solosis's health: 78%**

He had to admit: this was getting exciting.

It was Erica's move. "Absorb's out. Use another Razor Leaf!" Sam was trying to think on his feet. He could use another Reflect.

Pax read his mind. He began straining to use a Reflect, but it wasn't working.  
**Move failed.  
**_Fuck. _A barrage of leaves swiftly made contact with an unmoving Pax.

**Direct damage. Solosis's health: 43%**

_Fuck._

"Pax! Use Psywave!" Sam was starting to doubt he'd win this.  
**Direct damage. Turtwig's health: 50%**

"Sheldon, just go for a full-on Tackle!" Erica was feeling the competitive spirit too, Sam noticed.

"Give him a Psywave to the face!" Pax's Psywave hit Sheldon head-on as he was going to tackle him, but it didn't totally stop him; Sheldon managed to land the tackle.

**Direct damage. Solosis's health: 31%  
Direct damage. Turtwig's health: 38%**

"Sheldon! Get some distance between you and Pax!" Sam had to have something else up his sleeve—all of his recent training hadn't been for nothing. He started going through a list of Pax's newer moves in his head: _ Hidden Power, Light Screen—_

"Sheldon! Use Toxic!" _What was the other move, Holy—_

"Snatch, Pax! Go!" Pax's membrane started tinting a slight purple as Sheldon's face contorted and a large purple orb left his body. The orb flew towards Pax and was absorbed into his membrane. Pax launched himself at Sheldon.

**Reflected damage. Turtwig's health: 26%  
**He was so close!

"Sheldon! Use an up-close Razor Leaf!" Of course.

**Direct damage. Solosis' health: 1% Match goes to trainer **_**Erica Nixon. **_**Erica was awarded one-hundred dollars.  
**Hearing his money being given out was enough to get Sam to turn off the Battle Voiceover, though he could still hear Erica's beep from her pocket.

"Holy, _crap_, Erica! That was such a good battle!" Sam wasn't really fazed by the loss, though he was really hoping Pax would win his next battle.

Both of the trainers' Status Notifiers went off. Sam's read:

**Paxton leveled up! Paxton reached level 22! **_Cool!_

Erica's went off out loud:  
**Sheldon Leveled up! Sheldon reached level 18! Sheldon has begun evolving, please return Sheldon and consult a Species Guide to reference how to care for an evolving Turtwig.**

_That _was certainly an interesting development. Erica returned Sheldon and began flipping through her apps to consult her Grass Species Encyclopedia app, scrolled a bit, and began reading aloud:  
_"An evolving Turtwig needs open space, seclusion, and sun. It will fall into a deep sleep and its shell will begin to peel and change shape along with its spine. The Pokémon will then quadruple in size: growing bigger all around, extending the length of its legs, adding muscle mass to support its new body, and growing larger plants on its body (usually bushes.)_

"_The Pokemon's shell will grow to cover more of its body, including its head. Natural deposits of dead skin and other body wastes will fill up indents on its shell and grow plants that grow to be a part of the Pokémon itself (Side-note: The state of this Pokémon's plants are directly related to its health.)_

"_Traveling trainers are recommended to send an evolving Turtwig to a Personal Containment Environment (often called "PC boxes" in trainer slang) as soon as possible. A shaded forest environment should be chosen to place the evolving Pokémon into. If out of a service area, it is legal to use your Omnidex's emergency satellite connection to send your Pokémon into it's PC box. First responders will see that you are transferring an evolving Turtwig and no action will be taken on their part."_

Erica looked at Sam, excited and a little anxious; he didn't really blame her, though. Her starter was evolving! She began shuffling though her apps again, probably finding a suitable forest PC box, and then plugged her Pokeball into her Omnidex. It was so impressive show advancements in light and digital technology have allowed people to be able to transport Pokémon into totally unknown places in random spots of the world that are designed just to accommodate trainer Pokémon.

"I knew that battle would be a good idea!" She was beaming.

"Yeah, cuz that means one less Pokémon to take out!" Sam and Erica turned at the familiar voice. It was that sketchy girl again, only this time she brought friends. The girl was standing with her Ariados and Gastly, and she had another Pokémon that they hadn't seen before—at least not really: a Scolipede. It didn't end there: Standing behind her were two other little punk kids—twins—the one on the left with a Sawk to his side, and the one on the right with a Throh.

"Melinda! Use Steamroller!" The giant bug rolled into a ball and headed straight for them. They both dodged in opposite directions and let out their Pokémon (Erica tried to send out Sheldon, but his pokeball just came back at her.) The Sawk and Throh totally ignored Sam's Pokémon and went straight to hold down Bradley and Layla, and as much as they struggled, all Bradley managed to do was get pinned on the ground and all Layla managed to do was get puke on the Sawk.

"Coco! Pax! Both of you use Hidden Power on that Scolipede!" Sam commanded his Pokémon, still in intense-battle mode. He wasn't able to stop the Scolipede's attack, but they were able to put a solid dent in it before it managed to knock out both of Erica's Pokémon.  
**Trainer **_**Erica Nixon **_**has blacked out!**

It was all on Paxton and Coconut, now—no, mostly Coconut. Pax would be knocked out soon, and one recently evolved bug species wasn't going to be enough to take out five very trained and unrestrained Pokémon. Things were looking bleak. They could die any second. As Sam looked around to asses the situation, he noticed something strange: an orb-like irregularity in the air going top speed at the Sawk and Throh. _No. Way. _Sam heard a familiar wailing in the air and smiled happily as he covered his ears and looked to see the thugs hunched over and clutching their heads in pain.

Everyone was around Sam now. The girl, the twins, Erica, all of their Pokémon, Sam himself… This wasn't real. Things weren't getting scary, they were getting infinitely better. The little Zorua came to help.

The thugs were clearly freaking out. They were seeing themselves and their enemy times three now. They had just been attacked out of nowhere before that. It was too much for them and they ran off.

"So I guess you had a change of heart?" The little Pokémon gave a few whimpers, then an excited little yelp. "Umm…"

_He says that it wasn't worth it to stay behind in the forest once his family left. This is his chance to grow strong and have people around again._

"Ok, cool. That's actually really great and awesome… Umm… why isn't he just talking telepathically or whatever? The little Zorua pit his face in his paws and gave a little cry.

_He only speaks English when he's trying to play with his food._


	7. Days of Rest

**Days of Rest**

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

It was two in the morning of the day after she turned 17; it was two in the morning of the day after she asked for a Pokémon and permission to take a year off of school to compete in the gym circuit and plan the next step in her life. It was too bad that her parents had said it wasn't likely.

She went out for a walk to clear her mind and calm her nerves. She knew the neighborhood so well that she could comfortably walk with her arms crossed and staring at the floor.

_Keizer__ is so _monotonous_…I just really need to get out of here… I wish Mom would just sign the stupid papers so I can just do it… I guess she has a right to be worried but, it's like, c'mon! It's not like I'm not gonna have a bunch of super-powered monsters with me at all times…_

She finished her usual route feeling no better, and from the side of her house she could hear some shuffling. Feeling as though she had better make sure it wasn't a criminal or something, she went to investigate. What she saw was a few Trubbish digging through her garbage—the little buggers were always eating random crap from people's trash.

At a safe distance away from the rest of her little gang was a lone Trubbish, sitting quietly and keeping to herself. This one was actually _clean_, though.

Erica pulled out the pokeball that one of her best friends, Sam, had given her for her birthday and began fiddling with it. She kept watching the Trubbish out of curiosity. One of them went over to the one sitting by herself and tried to offer her a moldy slice of pizza covered in spoiled milk. She smelled it, slapped the other Trubbish, and gagged a little bit. She was clearly unhappy…

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tired and a little bit stinky for her late night/early morning excursion, Erica awoke properly for the day and went into the kitchen to eat breakfast. Her mom was already waiting with a classic meal of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. That was a nice thing to wake up to.

"Erica, I wanted to talk to you about yesterday." Her mom was smiling uncomfortably.

_Uh oh. _"Yeah?"

"I know where you're coming from… I didn't go on one of these adventures or whatever when I was a kid, but I see the appeal. It's hard to know what you want to do with your life, sometimes."

"Yeah…"

"I went to the lab in Salem to pick up a state-issued Starter. I've also registered you as a trainer. In September, you can officially start a gym circuit."

"Really? Oh my _god_ this is so cool! Thank you so much!" She hugged her mom, who then handed her a pokeball.

"A Turtwig. I know how much you like shelled-lizards, so I figured it'd be a good first Pokémon."

Erica stared in silence. "Thank you so much, mom…" Layla could just be a secret for now…

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

After traveling for another day and getting completely lost, Sam and Erica decided it would be a good idea to try and find somewhere to take a rest for a day. They figured that they had a big day, and it'd be nice to get to know the newest member of their little gang—the Zorua, which Sam named Houdini after an ancient myth of a magical shape-shifting demi-god of the same name.

"It'd be really nice to find somewhere with water. We could drink and maybe wash-up and just relax." Erica was right, of course. They really needed some time off.

"That sounds perfect. Hopefully we can find somewhere on the Omnidex map." Sam pulled out his Omnidex and tried another map app. "An hour or so east will get us to a nice clearing with a waterfall and lake and some caves and stuff. It'll be a pretty rough hour, but we can spend the rest of the day there, then leave tomorrow morning and get to Silverton before noon…"

"That sounds totally worth it! Let's just go for it! And maybe I can catch another Pokémon while we're at it!"

"Erica… We both have three already and we haven't even been to the second GymTown in our circuit. I'm not gonna try to catch another Pokémon for a while…"

"I'm sure we can both have it our way. I'm just gonna get a bunch of cool Pokémon as we go. I can learn a lot about them that way."

"I didn't even know you liked learning about them. I guess your Pokémon will be taken care of in the storage system…"

"It's not like I'm just gonna throw a pokeball and randomly catch shit." Erica pulled an empty pokeball from her coat pocket and pretended like she was going to throw it in a random direction, but her hand slipped and she actually threw it.

A loud whine, three soft clicks, and a pronounced _beep _were immediately heard.

**Pokémon captured. Male Deerling. Level 20. Please enter name.**

Erica typed in the first name that came to mind.

**Chase the Deerling has been added to your party.**

"I'm ready to go now!" Erica was pleased.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Their trek to the little oasis in the forest wasn't too terribly difficult; the toughest part was trying not to land face-first in the mud every few seconds—it had been raining every night they'd been there. The weather had been nicer that day, though, and they felt very treated when they arrived at their destination.

At early afternoon, Sam and Erica made it to an open area with a sparkling stream that ran along the area and probably fed into the WillametteRiver. A large waterfall fed the stream. They stood, awestruck, and took in the sight of the fresh sunshine, open sky, and the promise of a relaxing time.

In the distance, under a tree by the river, Sam and Erica saw a young man with a little brown Pokémon taking a nap. It was decided that it'd be best to just leave him there, they didn't know if he was safe. Instead of approaching him, they each found a more-or-less secluded spot in the river to bathe—they really needed it.

Sam was pretty quick in getting cleaned up. Paxton just kind of always absorbed anything nasty and dissolved it in his membrane, so he didn't need any cleaning (though he did enjoy playing in the water.)

Houdini seemed to love the water a lot, though whatever gave him his Illusion ability must've been on him, because every now and then, Sam would have a small hallucination. It was bearable.

Coconut didn't like getting his wings wet, so helped wash him with a little rag.

All of Sam's Pokémon kept a little distance between themselves. He figured he could solve the problem pretty easy, though. Pax and Coconut were natural enemies due to weakness or something, as were Pax and Houdini…and Coconut and Houdini.

_This might be a little bit harder than I thought it would be_, Sam thought to himself.

Erica settled herself in a somewhat private area on the river with a few bushes and the low-hanging branches of a tree for cover. She cleaned herself up before she sent out her Pokémon. She decided she'd clean her Pokémon one at a time and get to know them a little bit before she'd make them interact.

"Come on out, Layla." Her little Trubbish was really excited, as usual, to get a bath. While most Trubbish were grimy and kind of nasty—some people thinking them to be the result of mutated garbage, Layla loved being clean. Her biggest pet peeve was getting garbage in her long arm-hair.

Layla was one of Erica's first Pokémon, so she knew her pretty well by now: She was a neat-freak, a little selfish, but a total sweetheart. There was no way she wouldn't be able to get along with the rest of the team over time. Layla got cleaned up, and Erica let her curl up and nap under the tree.

Next, Erica sent out Bradley. He didn't really like the water, she noticed, so she just soaped up her dirty shirt and used it to clean him off, being careful not to touch his wings. Bradley was always very proud and cocky—he had a _huge_ ego. He seemed more muscular and tougher-skinned than most other Beedrill—the rare candies must've caused that growth.

Erica had two grass Pokémon, and knowing Bradley, he'd use that fact to terrorize them. She'd have to work on having him behave without _totally _breaking his spirit. Him and Layla seemed to get along alright, though. At least, they didn't seem to dislike each other.

"Bradley, go keep an eye out for Layla. If she wakes up, keep her some company." He complied and buzzed around the area of the tree Layla was sleeping under. "Alright, come out, Chase."

Erica's new little Deerling emerged from his pokeball and gleefully entered the water up to his knees and began cleaning himself. _Chase seems really calm. _Erica let him clean himself then join the others.

Bradley immediately tried to pick on him with some minor jabs, and Chase retaliated by throwing his entire weight at him and snorting loudly. Bradley was clearly surprised by this move and Chase taunted him a little by turning back to Layla and kicking behind himself. _So those three will get along alright_.

As Erica was thinking about how to entertain them all so they could bond a little bit, A large, mossy rock came floating to the water's edge.

Sam thought that trying to get his team to work cohesively would be a good use of the time on their day off. He let all three of them be out and made them line up side-to-side. He stood in front of them firmly and commanded: "Pax, you'll be the official translator."

_Right._

"Wait. Do you think you can like…psychic our minds so we understand each other?"

_Probably…_

"Oh…well…will you please try?"

_What? Oh, right. Ok. _Pax was really intelligent, but kind of oblivious... Sam felt a slight buzz in his head for a second, and because Coconut and Houdini startled visibly, he assumed that they did, too.

"Can we all understand each other?" Sam tested.

_"U-umm… I guess I'll try?" _Coconut fluttered a bit as Sam heard a whiny, high-pitched voice that had a slight vibrato to it. Sam had always imagined Coconut to be a little more firm, figured that a jittery voice for a bug made sense.

"Coconut? Is that you?"

_"Y-yeah…"_

"Alright, cool. So. Team. What do you guys dislike about each other?"

_"I actually don't mind these two… My last trainer taught me Flamethrower, so I don't need to be afraid of that dweeby pest." _A scratchy, high-pitched, and mischievous voice piped up. Houdini sounded as sneaky and impish and he looked.

"H-hey… I'm not... a-a dweeb! Don't be a little p-p-punk!"

Coconut nipped at Houdini with a weak Bug Bite.

_"Wow! Hey! I warned you, you little bitch!" _Houdini let out a huge jet of fire from his mouth and Coconut quickly used Protect. He looked upset.

_"D-d-do you think I don't know how to deal with little i-i-imps like y-you?" _So little Coco was not one to be messed with.

_"W-we're cool. We don't have any issues…" _Houdini's stutter was definitely a frightened one. So one oblivious Pokémon, one with a stutter, and one who's bark was bigger than his bite. They could all probably get over each other's faults. Coconut already bullied Houdini into being civil, and Houdini seemed to think that Pax would be _too_ easy to pick on. Pax never really noticed Coco's advantage over him, so they were civil enough.

Some bonding time is all they would need.

The shaggy-haired boy with the sloth Pokémon began approaching Sam and his Pokémon.

When the big, mossy rock got near the water's edge, something under the water stirred a bit, and the rock proceeded to rotate and float in the other direction. Erica called Bradley over. "Hey, Brad, give that rock a Twinneedle, would you? There's something really weird about it." Bradley nodded. "Thanks."

Bradley's claws began vibrating and he dived for the rock, hitting it head on. It sunk underwater, and as it did, a bunch of bubbles hastily reached the surface of the water. A rough splashing then ensued, and a large, blue, shelled-lizard reared itself, shell in the water. It shot a rough stream of water at Brad and knocked him out of the air.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry, mister, uh—hold on!" Erica pulled out her Omnidex and snapped a picture of the creature.

**Wild Wartortle. Male. Level 21.**

"I'm so sorry, Mr. War-turtle!" The Pokémon snorted, letting a few bubbles escape his nose, then went back in the water. _I want to catch it,_ Erica thought to herself.

She would battle the Pokémon, and hopefully earn enough respect from him to get him to join her team. Deerling—a grass Pokémon—would be a good Pokémon to use against it. She flipped through the Omnidex to look at his attacks and formulate a strategy. "Come here, Chase, we're gonna figure this out."

After a few minutes of strategizing, Erica and Chase had a battle plan. "Chase, jump in the water and use Camouflage!" He followed orders, and his body began to change. The flower on his head and his tail started changing into a solid line of webbed spines on his back. His neck also began growing gills. Little fins replaced where his ears were.

**Self-induced status change. Deerling changed into a water-defense Pokémon.**

The battle was now underwater, and Erica put on her goggles to keep up."Attack the war-turtle with a Leech Seed!" Chase spewed three pods from his mouth that were connected to his insides by long, wire-like organs. They attached themselves to the Wartortle on his head and began sapping his energy.

The Wartortle was in clear pain, and withdrew into his shell after taking in a massive gulp of water. It started rotating in the water, and little streams of air started spraying the water it had taken in from all of the holes in its shell. It spun free of the Leech Seed and shot at Chase.

**Direct damage. 85% health.**

"Chase! Take Down!" Chase swam rapidly at the Wartortle and threw his entire body weight at it. It gracefully turned and just got out of the way of Chase. The Wartortle was now behind him and shooting a massive amount of little, exploding bubbles at him.

**Direct damage.** **Bubble was not very effective. 80% health**

"Take this chance to use a Double Kick!" Chase turned away from the Wartortle and kicked it straight in the belly. The Wartortle shot backwards, winded, and Erica threw a pokeball at it. It must've been built to recognize it's environment, because a tiny jet of air shot out of it and it quickly made contact with the wild Pokémon, rather than floating slowly to it and missing altogether.

The pokeball flashed twice, then broke apart and sank to the bottom. It still looked pretty beat up, and Erica still had another four pokeballs.

"Use another Leech Seed!" Chase followed orders and soon was sapping the wild Pokémon's health once again. It started to blow bubbles. "Alright, I hope this works: keep your Leech Seeds attached, but suck them back in." He did so, and the Wartortle was quickly pulled towards him. "Now use a Take Down!"

The two Pokémon collided heavily, causing a huge ripple in the water that splashed Layla and Bradley, who were on the edge of the riverbank.

**Self-inflicted damage. Take Down recoil damage. 12% health.**

The wartortle was definitely tired. It closed its eyes in submission, and Erica threw another pokeball. It blinked three times, then a few sparks came out of it, and it returned to Erica.

The Omnidex announced: **Pokémon captured. Male Wartortle. Level 21. Please enter name.**

Erica looked over to the spot of the river Sam was on, hoping he caught a glimpse of the action. She noticed the shaggy-haired boy from earlier waking up. He looked around a little bit, noticed Sam, put his brown Pokémon on his shoulder, and got up.

Erica quickly got dressed and went over to where Sam was, thinking it'd be safer stick with her traveling partner—especially since they'd seen what kind of people roamed that forest.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Erica joined Sam as the strange, red-eyed boy approached them. He had a fuzzy, sleeping Pokémon—which Sam recognized as a Slakoth—draped over his shoulder. He smelled like weed and he had a huge grin on his face.

"Ey, whassup? I'm Oliver." The boy grinned even wider and shook their hands.

**Days of Rest**

It was two in the morning of the day after she turned 17; it was two in the morning of the day after she asked for a Pokémon and permission to take a year off of school to compete in the gym circuit and plan the next step in her life. It was too bad that her parents had said it wasn't likely.

She went out for a walk to clear her mind and calm her nerves. She knew the neighborhood so well that she could comfortably walk with her arms crossed and staring at the floor.

_Keizer__ is so _monotonous_…I just really need to get out of here… I wish Mom would just sign the stupid papers so I can just do it… I guess she has a right to be worried but, it's like, c'mon! It's not like I'm not gonna have a bunch of super-powered monsters with me at all times…_

She finished her usual route feeling no better, and from the side of her house she could hear some shuffling. Feeling as though she had better make sure it wasn't a criminal or something, she went to investigate. What she saw was a few Trubbish digging through her garbage—the little buggers were always eating random crap from people's trash.

At a safe distance away from the rest of her little gang was a lone Trubbish, sitting quietly and keeping to herself. This one was actually _clean_, though.

Erica pulled out the pokeball that one of her best friends, Sam, had given her for her birthday and began fiddling with it. She kept watching the Trubbish out of curiosity. One of them went over to the one sitting by herself and tried to offer her a moldy slice of pizza covered in spoiled milk. She smelled it, slapped the other Trubbish, and gagged a little bit. She was clearly unhappy…

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tired and a little bit stinky for her late night/early morning excursion, Erica awoke properly for the day and went into the kitchen to eat breakfast. Her mom was already waiting with a classic meal of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. That was a nice thing to wake up to.

"Erica, I wanted to talk to you about yesterday." Her mom was smiling uncomfortably.

_Uh oh. _"Yeah?"

"I know where you're coming from… I didn't go on one of these adventures or whatever when I was a kid, but I see the appeal. It's hard to know what you want to do with your life, sometimes."

"Yeah…"

"I went to the lab in Salem to pick up a state-issued Starter. I've also registered you as a trainer. In September, you can officially start a gym circuit."

"Really? Oh my _god_ this is so cool! Thank you so much!" She hugged her mom, who then handed her a pokeball.

"A Turtwig. I know how much you like shelled-lizards, so I figured it'd be a good first Pokémon."

Erica stared in silence. "Thank you so much, mom…" Layla could just be a secret for now…

After traveling for another day and getting completely lost, Sam and Erica decided it would be a good idea to try and find somewhere to take a rest for a day. They figured that they had a big day, and it'd be nice to get to know the newest member of their little gang—the Zorua, which Sam named Houdini after an ancient myth of a magical shape-shifting demi-god of the same name.

"It'd be really nice to find somewhere with water. We could drink and maybe wash-up and just relax." Erica was right, of course. They really needed some time off.

"That sounds perfect. Hopefully we can find somewhere on the Omnidex map." Sam pulled out his Omnidex and tried another map app. "An hour or so east will get us to a nice clearing with a waterfall and lake and some caves and stuff. It'll be a pretty rough hour, but we can spend the rest of the day there, then leave tomorrow morning and get to Silverton before noon…"

"That sounds totally worth it! Let's just go for it! And maybe I can catch another Pokémon while we're at it!"

"Erica… We both have three already and we haven't even been to the second GymTown in our circuit. I'm not gonna try to catch another Pokémon for a while…"

"I'm sure we can both have it our way. I'm just gonna get a bunch of cool Pokémon as we go. I can learn a lot about them that way."

"I didn't even know you liked learning about them. I guess your Pokémon will be taken care of in the storage system…"

"It's not like I'm just gonna throw a pokeball and randomly catch shit." Erica pulled an empty pokeball from her coat pocket and pretended like she was going to throw it in a random direction, but her hand slipped and she actually threw it.

A loud whine, three soft clicks, and a pronounced _beep _were immediately heard.

**Pokémon captured. Male Deerling. Level 20. Please enter name.**

Erica typed in the first name that came to mind.

**Chase the Deerling has been added to your party.**

"I'm ready to go now!" Erica was pleased.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Their trek to the little oasis in the forest wasn't too terribly difficult; the toughest part was trying not to land face-first in the mud every few seconds—it had been raining every night they'd been there. The weather had been nicer that day, though, and they felt very treated when they arrived at their destination.

At early afternoon, Sam and Erica made it to an open area with a sparkling stream that ran along the area and probably fed into the WillametteRiver. A large waterfall fed the stream. They stood, awestruck, and took in the sight of the fresh sunshine, open sky, and the promise of a relaxing time.

In the distance, under a tree by the river, Sam and Erica saw a young man with a little brown Pokémon taking a nap. It was decided that it'd be best to just leave him there, they didn't know if he was safe. Instead of approaching him, they each found a more-or-less secluded spot in the river to bathe—they really needed it.

Sam was pretty quick in getting cleaned up. Paxton just kind of always absorbed anything nasty and dissolved it in his membrane, so he didn't need any cleaning (though he did enjoy playing in the water.)

Houdini seemed to love the water a lot, though whatever gave him his Illusion ability must've been on him, because every now and then, Sam would have a small hallucination. It was bearable.

Coconut didn't like getting his wings wet, so helped wash him with a little rag.

All of Sam's Pokémon kept a little distance between themselves. He figured he could solve the problem pretty easy, though. Pax and Coconut were natural enemies due to weakness or something, as were Pax and Houdini…and Coconut and Houdini.

_This might be a little bit harder than I thought it would be_, Sam thought to himself.

Erica settled herself in a somewhat private area on the river with a few bushes and the low-hanging branches of a tree for cover. She cleaned herself up before she sent out her Pokémon. She decided she'd clean her Pokémon one at a time and get to know them a little bit before she'd make them interact.

"Come on out, Layla." Her little Trubbish was really excited, as usual, to get a bath. While most Trubbish were grimy and kind of nasty—some people thinking them to be the result of mutated garbage, Layla loved being clean. Her biggest pet peeve was getting garbage in her long arm-hair.

Layla was one of Erica's first Pokémon, so she knew her pretty well by now: She was a neat-freak, a little selfish, but a total sweetheart. There was no way she wouldn't be able to get along with the rest of the team over time. Layla got cleaned up, and Erica let her curl up and nap under the tree.

Next, Erica sent out Bradley. He didn't really like the water, she noticed, so she just soaped up her dirty shirt and used it to clean him off, being careful not to touch his wings. Bradley was always very proud and cocky—he had a _huge_ ego. He seemed more muscular and tougher-skinned than most other Beedrill—the rare candies must've caused that growth.

Erica had two grass Pokémon, and knowing Bradley, he'd use that fact to terrorize them. She'd have to work on having him behave without _totally _breaking his spirit. Him and Layla seemed to get along alright, though. At least, they didn't seem to dislike each other.

"Bradley, go keep an eye out for Layla. If she wakes up, keep her some company." He complied and buzzed around the area of the tree Layla was sleeping under. "Alright, come out, Chase."

Erica's new little Deerling emerged from his pokeball and gleefully entered the water up to his knees and began cleaning himself. _Chase seems really calm. _Erica let him clean himself then join the others.

Bradley immediately tried to pick on him with some minor jabs, and Chase retaliated by throwing his entire weight at him and snorting loudly. Bradley was clearly surprised by this move and Chase taunted him a little by turning back to Layla and kicking behind himself. _So those three will get along alright_.

As Erica was thinking about how to entertain them all so they could bond a little bit, A large, mossy rock came floating to the water's edge.

Sam thought that trying to get his team to work cohesively would be a good use of the time on their day off. He let all three of them be out and made them line up side-to-side. He stood in front of them firmly and commanded: "Pax, you'll be the official translator."

_Right._

"Wait. Do you think you can like…psychic our minds so we understand each other?"

_Probably…_

"Oh…well…will you please try?"

_What? Oh, right. Ok. _Pax was really intelligent, but kind of oblivious... Sam felt a slight buzz in his head for a second, and because Coconut and Houdini startled visibly, he assumed that they did, too.

"Can we all understand each other?" Sam tested.

_"U-umm… I guess I'll try?" _Coconut fluttered a bit as Sam heard a whiny, high-pitched voice that had a slight vibrato to it. Sam had always imagined Coconut to be a little more firm, figured that a jittery voice for a bug made sense.

"Coconut? Is that you?"

_"Y-yeah…"_

"Alright, cool. So. Team. What do you guys dislike about each other?"

_"I actually don't mind these two… My last trainer taught me Flamethrower, so I don't need to be afraid of that dweeby pest." _A scratchy, high-pitched, and mischievous voice piped up. Houdini sounded as sneaky and impish and he looked.

"H-hey… I'm not... a-a dweeb! Don't be a little p-p-punk!"

Coconut nipped at Houdini with a weak Bug Bite.

_"Wow! Hey! I warned you, you little bitch!" _Houdini let out a huge jet of fire from his mouth and Coconut quickly used Protect. He looked upset.

_"D-d-do you think I don't know how to deal with little i-i-imps like y-you?" _So little Coco was not one to be messed with.

_"W-we're cool. We don't have any issues…" _Houdini's stutter was definitely a frightened one. So one oblivious Pokémon, one with a stutter, and one who's bark was bigger than his bite. They could all probably get over each other's faults. Coconut already bullied Houdini into being civil, and Houdini seemed to think that Pax would be _too_ easy to pick on. Pax never really noticed Coco's advantage over him, so they were civil enough.

Some bonding time is all they would need.

The shaggy-haired boy with the sloth Pokémon began approaching Sam and his Pokémon.

When the big, mossy rock got near the water's edge, something under the water stirred a bit, and the rock proceeded to rotate and float in the other direction. Erica called Bradley over. "Hey, Brad, give that rock a Twinneedle, would you? There's something really weird about it." Bradley nodded. "Thanks."

Bradley's claws began vibrating and he dived for the rock, hitting it head on. It sunk underwater, and as it did, a bunch of bubbles hastily reached the surface of the water. A rough splashing then ensued, and a large, blue, shelled-lizard reared itself, shell in the water. It shot a rough stream of water at Brad and knocked him out of the air.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry, mister, uh—hold on!" Erica pulled out her Omnidex and snapped a picture of the creature.

**Wild Wartortle. Male. Level 21.**

"I'm so sorry, Mr. War-turtle!" The Pokémon snorted, letting a few bubbles escape his nose, then went back in the water. _I want to catch it,_ Erica thought to herself.

She would battle the Pokémon, and hopefully earn enough respect from him to get him to join her team. Deerling—a grass Pokémon—would be a good Pokémon to use against it. She flipped through the Omnidex to look at his attacks and formulate a strategy. "Come here, Chase, we're gonna figure this out."

After a few minutes of strategizing, Erica and Chase had a battle plan. "Chase, jump in the water and use Camouflage!" He followed orders, and his body began to change. The flower on his head and his tail started changing into a solid line of webbed spines on his back. His neck also began growing gills. Little fins replaced where his ears were.

**Self-induced status change. Deerling changed into a water-defense Pokémon.**

The battle was now underwater, and Erica put on her goggles to keep up."Attack the war-turtle with a Leech Seed!" Chase spewed three pods from his mouth that were connected to his insides by long, wire-like organs. They attached themselves to the Wartortle on his head and began sapping his energy.

The Wartortle was in clear pain, and withdrew into his shell after taking in a massive gulp of water. It started rotating in the water, and little streams of air started spraying the water it had taken in from all of the holes in its shell. It spun free of the Leech Seed and shot at Chase.

**Direct damage. 85% health.**

"Chase! Take Down!" Chase swam rapidly at the Wartortle and threw his entire body weight at it. It gracefully turned and just got out of the way of Chase. The Wartortle was now behind him and shooting a massive amount of little, exploding bubbles at him.

**Direct damage.** **Bubble was not very effective. 80% health**

"Take this chance to use a Double Kick!" Chase turned away from the Wartortle and kicked it straight in the belly. The Wartortle shot backwards, winded, and Erica threw a pokeball at it. It must've been built to recognize it's environment, because a tiny jet of air shot out of it and it quickly made contact with the wild Pokémon, rather than floating slowly to it and missing altogether.

The pokeball flashed twice, then broke apart and sank to the bottom. It still looked pretty beat up, and Erica still had another four pokeballs.

"Use another Leech Seed!" Chase followed orders and soon was sapping the wild Pokémon's health once again. It started to blow bubbles. "Alright, I hope this works: keep your Leech Seeds attached, but suck them back in." He did so, and the Wartortle was quickly pulled towards him. "Now use a Take Down!"

The two Pokémon collided heavily, causing a huge ripple in the water that splashed Layla and Bradley, who were on the edge of the riverbank.

**Self-inflicted damage. Take Down recoil damage. 12% health.**

The wartortle was definitely tired. It closed its eyes in submission, and Erica threw another pokeball. It blinked three times, then a few sparks came out of it, and it returned to Erica.

The Omnidex announced: **Pokémon captured. Male Wartortle. Level 21. Please enter name.**

Erica looked over to the spot of the river Sam was on, hoping he caught a glimpse of the action. She noticed the shaggy-haired boy from earlier waking up. He looked around a little bit, noticed Sam, put his brown Pokémon on his shoulder, and got up.

Erica quickly got dressed and went over to where Sam was, thinking it'd be safer stick with her traveling partner—especially since they'd seen what kind of people roamed that forest.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Erica joined Sam as the strange, red-eyed boy approached them. He had a fuzzy, sleeping Pokémon—which Sam recognized as a Slakoth—draped over his shoulder. He smelled like weed and he had a huge grin on his face.

"Ey, whassup? I'm Oliver." The boy grinned even wider and shook their hands.


End file.
